May 2017

CPJ joins call for Egypt to stop blocking access to news websites

May 30, 2017 2:20 PM ET

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 20 human rights and press freedom organizations in calling on Egyptian authorities to stop blocking access to Mada Masr and the 22 other news websites. The letter, sent May 26, says the blocking of the sites violates international standards....

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 28, 2017

May 30, 2017 12:51 PM ET

Chair and editor of shuttered news agency arrested Police in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır on the night of May 31 arrested Zekeriya Güzüpek, the former chair of the board of the shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), and Mehmet Ali Ertaş, a former Kurdish-language editor at the...

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 21, 2017

May 22, 2017 10:51 AM ET

Two journalists arraigned, finance manager released A court in Istanbul arraigned Gökmen Ulu and Mediha Olgun, journalists for the secularist, nationalist daily Sözcü, one of the last remaining widely circulated newspapers to be consistently critical of the government, on charges of "committing a crime in the name of a...

How US Espionage Act can be used against journalists covering leaks

May 20, 2017 8:30 AM ET

Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly joked about Trump using a saber on the press and U.S. Senator Jim Risch told CNN the press should be questioning the Washington Post about its sources. Then, on May 16, The New York Times reported that President Donald...

Javier Valdez Cárdenas, brave and beloved Mexican journalist

May 15, 2017 6:24 PM ET

When Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas arrived in New York City in November 2011 to accept CPJ's International Press Freedom Award, he and his staff had already suffered a grenade attack on the offices of their weekly, Ríodoce. Weeks after receiving the award, they were the victims of a...

Iran targets Telegram app as it seeks to control news ahead of May election

May 15, 2017 5:26 PM ET

Iran has a history of cracking down on the independent press ahead of elections, with authorities arresting journalists and forcing reformist outlets to shut down. As Iranians prepare to vote in presidential and city council elections on May 19, authorities have turned their attention to Telegram, arresting several channel...

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 14, 2017

May 15, 2017 12:25 PM ET

Police search homes of opposition newspaper owner, staff Police searched the homes of the owner and three employees of the daily newspaper Sözcü, one of the last remaining large media outlets that opposes the government, the newspaper reported today....

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 7

May 8, 2017 12:24 PM ET

Editor detained at courthouse Police in Istanbul's Çağlayan Courthouse today detained Çağlar Özbilgin, an editor for the leftist news website sendika.org, his employer reported. Özbilgin was there to attend a hearing of his trial on charges of "insulting the president," but police detained him for a separate criminal investigation...

Bahrain denies accreditation to journalists

May 4, 2017 1:39 PM ET

Bahrain has over the past year refused to grant accreditation to several of its own citizens who report for foreign and independent media, including those working for The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, France 24, and Monte Carlo Doualiya. It has on multiple occasions not granted media visas to foreign...

With press freedom under attack worldwide, US is setting wrong example

May 2, 2017 1:41 PM ET

For decades if not longer, repressive leaders around the world have defended restrictions on freedom of the press by citing examples of Western governments failing to live by their own professed standards....

Every two weeks Mohamed al-Fakharany prepares to visit his brother, Abdullah al-Fakharany, in prison. He packs food, clothes, books, and, most importantly, written responses to his older brother's letters. Mohamed al-Fakharany, who told CPJ that he has never missed a visit, was only 11 when his brother-- the executive...

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 30, 2017

May 1, 2017 10:24 AM ET

Court overturns reporter's terrorism conviction The Fourth Court of Appeals in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır today overturned its previous conviction of Bertitan Canözer, a former reporter for the shuttered JİNHA news agency, on charges of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization," the news website Gazete Sujin reported....